Abstract:

As 3D printers have become cheaper more home users have got one. Before the 3D printer was as cheap as now, most people bought all the parts from shops or directly from the manufacturer. These days when you practically can make anything you like at home with your own computer, more complex and even load bearing parts are being printed at home. Most users however do not have any way of testing the strength of the printed part in any other way than practically testing if it works or not. This could be dangerous in some cases.

Previous studies have been done to study the strength of 3D printed parts. These studies have however mostly just tested the strength of the parts, not trying to make a model of how to calculate the strength. Some studies come up with guidelines to ensure maximum strength. Others develop software that analyses and optimizes the part, making as little visual changes as possible, to ensure it does not break during cleaning or shipment. With the results from this thesis we hopefully have a functional way of calculating the strength of a 3D printed structure of any kind.